The Virtual Wall- An Internet
Memorial
Reflecting on Silent
Memorial
As Printed
in The Exeter News-Letter on 5/31/2002 :
I visited The
Vietnam Memorial, The Wall, in Washington D.C..
As we approached the wall people were talking and
looking around the park, young and old alike. As
we got closer to the wall it got quieter and
quieter. The long line viewing the names on the
wall was totally silent.
A few approached to rub a pencil over a piece of
paper and others just left personal items to
honor their lost ones. These actions could not
help but move anyone standing nearby. I was
awestruck by the number of people standing there,
and the total silence along the entire wall.
Now there is a "Virtual Wall" on the
Internet to honor those who died in service to
our country.
In 1998 Winstar Communications and The Vietnam
Veteran's Memorial Fund created "the Virtual
Wall", an Internet website in honor of the
men and women who lost their lives during the
Vietnam War. Visitors can view an interactive
image of the wall and zoom in on the names on the
wall.
Visitors may add their own personal memorials to
the names on the wall and even get a Virtual name
rubbing. There is no charge to post on the site
of The Virtual Wall and by doing so you may enter
remembrances of those people you knew that lost
their lives and even create your own personalized
"My Virtual Wall" to keep track of
postings to those you knew.
Each name on the Virtual Wall links to a personal
profile of that person. It is also possible to
link the names on the wall with the person that
you are viewing. For instance, you can link your
loved one with Others with the same last name who
died in Vietnam, other soldiers from the same
state, others who died on the same day, others
who died in the same area of Vietnam, and others
in the same branch of service.
For anyone who has any interest in The Vietnam
War and those who died there for America, this
site is a must see. The internet address for The
Virtual Wall is http://www.thevirtualwall.org/
.
According to the Smithsonian Institute"In
the fall of 1982, a U.S. Navy officer walked up
to the trench where the concrete for the
foundation of The Wall was being poured. He stood
over the trench for a moment, then tossed
something into it and saluted. A workman asked
him what he was doing. He said he was giving his
dead brother's Purple Heart to The Wall. That was
the first offering."
A book "Offerings at the Wall" is a
collection of pictures and stories of items left
at the Wall. The Smithsonian Institute has many
of these items on exhibit. Some of them can be
seen on their website located at http://photo2.si.edu/offerings/offerings.html
.
To All who served and are serving our country
now, I say THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE TO OUR
COUNTRY!
For anyone who has any interest in The Vietnam
War and those who died there for America, this
site is a must see.
The Virtual Wall: http://www.thevirtualwall.org/
Thanks to CPF&G Member Scott Cole for sending
me this site!
The Dream
or A Visitor From the
Past- AUTHOR UNKNOWN
I had a dream
the other night that I, well, did not understand,
A figure rushing through the mist with a
flintlock in his hand.
His clothes
were torn and dirty as he stood there by my bed,
He took off his three cornered hat and speaking
low to me he said,
We fought a revolution to secure our liberty,
and created a Constitution as a shield from
tyranny,
for future generations to cherish and save,
In this, the land of the free and home of the
brave.
The freedoms we
secured for you we hoped you'd always keep,
But Tyrannts labored endlessly while your parents
were asleep,
Your freedoms gone your courage is lost, your no
better than a slave,
In this, the land of the free and home of the
brave.
You buy permits
to travel, and permits to own a gun,
Permits to start a business or to build a place
for one !
And the land
that you believe you own, you pay a yearly rent,
though you have no voice to say how the money is
spent.
Your children
must attend a school that does not educate,
And your religious values cant be taught,
according to the state.
You read about
the current news in a regulated press,
and you pay a tax you do not owe to please the
IRS.
Your money is
no longer made of Silver nor of Gold,
You trade your wealth for paper so your life can
be controlled.
You pay for
crimes that make our nation turn from God to
shame,
You have taken Satans number and traded in your
name.
You have given
government control to those who do you harm,
so they can tear down churches and sieze the
family farm,
And sink our country deep in debt, put men of God
in jail,
arrest your fellow countrymen while corrupted
courts prevail.
Your public
servants do not uphold the solemn oath that they
have sworn,
and your daughters visit doctors so their
children will not be born.
Your leaders
sent artillery and guns to foreign shores,
and send your sons to slaughter fighting other
peoples wars !
Can you regain
the freedom for which we fought and died ?
Or dont you have the courage to stand with pride
?
And are there
no more values for which you will fight to save ?
Or do you wish your children to live in fear, and
be a slave ?
Oh Children of
the Republic, arise, take a stand,
defend the Constitution, the Supreme law of the
land.
Preserve our
great Republic and each God given Right,
with God as our shield, because your freedom is
right !
As I awoke he
vansished into the mist from which he came,
His words were true, we are not free, but we have
ourselves to blame,
for even now as we lose each God given right,
people watch and tremble, too afraid to stand and
fight.
If he stood by
your bedside while your were asleep,
and wondering what remained of the freedoms he
fought to keep,
What would be your answer, if he called out from
the grave,
Is this still the land of the free and the home
of the brave ?
IS THIS STILL THE LAND
OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE?
From NH Center for
Constitutional Studies (NHCCS):
http://www.nhccs.org/visitor_past.html
And From The American Heritage
Library:
http://www.constitutional.net/161.html
Two
Soldiers, A Picture, and The Torment of War
Headliners and Legends with
Matt Lauer did a story on an American soldier.
When this soldier was young He met the enemy on a
trail in Vietnam and won, as He would have to in
order to survive the war. In going through the
Vietnamese soldiers belongings, He found a
picture. It appeared to be of the Soldier and
possibly his daughter and from the sadness in the
picture it must have been before He left for the
war. But this was war and the young soldier, for
some reason, stuck the picture in his pocket.
For years he felt sadness at taking this young
girl's father from her, but had no regrets since
it was war, but her father died bravely and he
respected that. Whenever he cleaned out his
wallet, these memories would return. His wife
suggested getting rid of the picture, but he
couldn't. Then one Christmas his own daughter
bought him a wallet and in changing over, she
asked about it, he said it was someone from the
war.
He and his wife knew he needed closure or this
would torment him forever. Out of respect for the
brave soldier he had killed, he could not destroy
it. Then it came to him, he would write a letter
to the brave young man that he had killed and
place the letter and the picture at the Vietnam
Memorial in Washington D.C..
After the task was complete, he felt like a
weight had been lifted from his shoulders., and
there it sat, An enemy soldier, his daughter, and
a letter from the American that met him in
battle.
This was not the end however, another Vietnam
Veteran that was now a park ranger at the Vietnam
Memorial was storing away things left at the
Memorial and this picture happened to be on top
of a box. He saw it and read the letter. The
first enemy soldier's picture he had seen and a
note to the dead enemy soldier from the American
that had killed him. This park ranger was writing
a book about things left at the Memorial and He
knew this would have to be in it!
The book was published and the State
Representative from where the soldier that had
carried that picture for years lived, knew him,
and called him right away. Seeing the book
brought the soldier's memories back again and He
couldn't figure why the girl in this picture
tormented him so! The Veteran Park Ranger kept
the picture as well and returned it to the
Soldier who had placed it at the Wall.
Finally He knew he would have to try to return
the picture to the little girl that would now be
a grown woman. He contacted the Vietnam Embassy
and figured that would be that, but this pictures
destiny was not over. A Vietnamese reporter heard
from the Embassy and ran a story and the picture.
Someone took a copy of the paper and wrapped a
present to their grandmother with the picture
facing out. The grandmother recognized the
picture and brought it to the family.
The Vietnamese Embassy notified the American
Soldier and He was off to Vietnam to meet the
family of the Soldier he had killed. At first,
apprehension, but then sorrow and emotion from
everyone. It was the only picture of this forty
year old woman's father who had been taken from
her at such a young age. The American explained
that it was war and he had no choice, but He
thought of her loss often and was glad to return
the picture. He told her that her Father didn't
suffer and he was a brave man.
The family and the village accepted the great
deed he had done in returning the picture and
bringing closure not only to himself, but also to
the family of the brave man that he had killed.
Our Veteran's carry more baggage then most of us
realize, and whether during wartime or not they
are still putting their lives on the line for our
country. Lately our government has cut military
spending, payroll for our soldiers, and benefits
for our Veterans. We need to go back to showing
respect for our Soldiers and Veterans and helping
them where ever we can. This soldier was able to
lighten his burden, but most aren't, so when ever
you can "Thank A Veteran", our freedom
depends on it!
Headliners and Legends with Matt Lauer is on
MSNBC. I don't care for Mr. Lauer's politics, but
this was an excellent story!
USS Cole
Floats A Day Ahead of Schedule
As Printed in The Exeter
News-Letter on Tuesday November 6th, 2001:
On Friday, September 14th, The
USS Cole was set afloat again and it was done a
day ahead of schedule. The shipyard in Pascagoula
Mississippi worked diligently to get the USS Cole
back on the water. Congratulations to all for
their valiant effort. The USS Cole had been the
victim of a terrorist attack while refueling in
Yemen last October.
With the events of late, this reminds me of
another war waged against terrorism by American
soldiers. This is a story that I wrote last year
titled "Lest We Forget-Bravery Of Our
Servicemen and Women":
Lt. Brandon Floyd, of the USS Hawes, a guided
missile Frigate, offered his personal perspective
on the tragedy:
"It wasn't until a few days ago though, that
we started doing something that I feel may be the
first thing I've seen in my short Naval career
that has truly made a difference. Right now we're
supporting the USS COLE and her crew in Aden.
When the attack occurred we were a day away. Just
by luck we happened to be on our way out of the
Gulf and headed towards the Suez and could get
here in a relatively short amount of time. I know
what you all have seen on CNN, because we have
seen it too. I just want you all to know that
what you see doesn't even scratch the surface.
I'm not going to get into it for obvious reasons.
But I will tell you that right now there are 250+
sailors just a few miles away living in hell on
Earth. I'm sitting in a nice air-conditioned
stateroom, they're sleeping out on the decks at
night. You can't even imagine the conditions
they're living in, and yet they are still
fighting 24 hours a day to save their ship and
free the bodies of those still trapped and send
them home.
As bad as it is, they're doing an incredible job.
The very fact that these people are still
functioning is beyond my comprehension. Whatever
you imagine as the worst, multiply it by ten and
you might get there. Today I was tasked to photo
rig the ship and surrounding area. It looked so
much worse than I had imagined, unbelievable
really, with debris and disarray everywhere, the
ship listing, the hole in her side. I wish I had
the power to relay to you all what I have seen,
but words just won't do it. I do want to tell you
the first thing that jumped out at me - the Stars
and Stripes flying. I can't tell you how that
made me feel...even in this God forsaken hell
hole our flag was more beautiful than words can
describe.
Then I started to notice the mass of activity
going on below, scores of people working non-stop
in 90 plus degree weather to save this ship.
They're doing it with almost no electrical power
and they're sleeping (when they can sleep)
outside on the decks because they can't stand the
smell or the heat or the darkness inside. They
only want to eat what we bring them because
they're all scared of eating something brought by
the local vendors.
Even with all that, the USS COLE and her crew is
sending a message guys, and it's that even acts
of cowardice and hate can do nothing to the
spirit and pride of the United States. I have
never been so proud of what I do, or of the men
and women that I serve with as I was today. There
are sixteen confirmed dead sailors who put it on
the line for all of us, and some of them are
still trapped here.
Please take a minute to pray for their families
and say a word of thanks for their sacrifice -
one made so that we can live the lives that we
do. All of you that serve with me, thank you. All
of you that have loved ones that serve, Thank
You."
This letter can be found on the Department of the
Navy's, Navy Historical Center Website: http://www.history.navy.mil/nan/2000/nov-dec/cole.htm
.
Someone who was there and witnessed these events
wrote this incredible letter. General Norman
Schwartzkopf on CNN also talked about the brave
and valiant effort that the crew of the USS Cole
had put forth to recover the bodies of their
fallen comrades and keep their ship afloat.
The US does a lot to be hated for around the
world, but I don't like it when we attack
citizens of other countries for the actions of
their governments, and I don't like acts of
terrorism against our servicemen who are just
doing their jobs.
While the rest of the Navy is still in the
comfort of their posts, the crew of the USS Cole
continues to live in a disaster area, with many
of their systems down, and having to sleep above
deck. The crew continues the battle to keep their
ship, their pride and joy, and ours too, afloat.
To let this ship sink and leave the bodies of
trapped servicemen and women to the sea would
just be another victory for the suicidal maniacs
that perpetrated this horrendous crime against
our country.
In a time of peace our servicemen and women are
fighting a major war against terrorism by
standing up for their country and doing whatever
it takes to keep the honor and respect of their
ship, and their country, intact.
Some people feel that the military is a way for
people to avoid the hustle and bustle of the
public sector, but they don't get paid very well.
They don't always get the benefits that they
deserve, and last and absolutely not the least is
the fact that even during peace time, when you
serve our country, your life is on the line. Lest
we forget, these honorable men and women put
their lives on the line for the rest of us. Like
the line spoken by Jack Nicolson in the movie A
Few Good Men, "We (servicemen) walk the line
to protect your freedom while you sit at home and
eat your Wheaties."
When our boys and girls go off to serve our
country, we need to remember that they are
putting their lives on the line for us, and we
should remember and respect them more often then
once a year on Veterans Day.
I would like to thank all of those that are
serving or have ever served our country. It may
not seem that way sometimes, but there are a lot
of us who do appreciate what you do.
United We Stand, Divided We Fall.
Contact CPF&G
A
CHRISTMAS REQUEST
TWAS THE
NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, HE LIVED ALL ALONE,
IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF PLASTER AND STONE.
I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY WITH PRESENTS TO
GIVE,
AND TO SEE JUST WHO IN THIS HOME DID LIVE.
I LOOKED ALL ABOUT, A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS, NOT EVEN A TREE.
NO STOCKING BY MANTLE, JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH
SAND,
ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.
WITH MEDALS AND BADGES, AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
A SOBER THOUGHT CAME THROUGH MY MIND.
FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT, IT WAS DARK AND
DREARY,
I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER, ONCE I COULD SEE
CLEARLY.
THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING, SILENT, ALONE,
CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.
THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE, THE ROOM IN SUCH
DISORDER,
NOT HOW
I PICTURED A UNITED STATES SOLDIER.
WAS THIS THE HERO OF WHOM I'D JUST READ?
CURLED UP ON A PONCHO, THE FLOOR FOR A BED?
I REALIZED THE FAMILIES THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS WHO WERE
WILLING TO FIGHT.
SOON ROUND THE WORLD, THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS
DAY.
THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS, LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.
I COULDN'T HELP WONDER HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.
THE VERY THOUGHT BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,
I DROPPED TO MY KNEES AND STARTED TO CRY.
THE SOLDIER AWAKENED AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
"SANTA DON'T CRY, THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;
I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, I DON'T ASK FOR MORE,
MY LIFE IS MY GOD, MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS."
THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,
I COULDN'T CONTROL IT, I CONTINUED TO WEEP.
I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS, SO SILENT AND STILL
AND WE
BOTH SHIVERED FROM THE COLD NIGHT'S CHILL.
I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT,
THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR SO WILLING TO FIGHT.
THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER, WITH A VOICE SOFT
AND PURE,
WHISPERED, "CARRY ON SANTA, IT'S CHRISTMAS
DAY, ALL IS SECURE."
ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH, AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND, AND TO ALL A
GOOD NIGHT."
This poem was written by a US Marine stationed in
Okinawa, Japan.
For more information on membership
please Contact CPF&G
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